Omar flays PDP for 'gifting away' state's territory
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday criticised the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) for displaying a controversial map of Jammu and Kashmir during a power point presentation of its Kashmir vision on Saturday.
The map showed the Aksai Chin area as part of China and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Pakistan. The areas are actually part of Jammu and Kashmir but are presently under the occupation of China and Pakistan respectively. In PDP’s map the Aksai Chin was painted in red while PoK in green. Objections were raised over the map and it was seen as an acceptance of the occupation of Aksai Chin and PoK by China and Pakistan respectively. The power point presentation was conducted at a press conference of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti here.
Reacting over the controversy, the chief minister said, “Gifting away of state’s territory will not be acceptable.”Talking to the media on the sidelines of a police function in Jammu, Omar said it is up to the PDP how they would want to clear the map. “I do not think it is acceptable to anyone that part of the state’s territory is gifted away like this,” he said.
However, Omar favoured making the borders irrelevant that would ensure free trade and travel between the sides of divided state. The demand for making the borders irrelevant for travel and trade of Kashmiris was also made by Mehbooba at her press conference.
About the map controversy, the PDP said it had no intention to challenge the sovereignty of the country. “We have only shown the distance, say from Kashmir-Leh to Yarkand, which is in China. These routes were open before 1947,” PDP president said.
According to her, the power point presentation was aimed at highlighting the distance between Srinagar and other major trade centres in Central Asia and China before 1947.
